Cranston is now home to the newest “Jeat?” restaurant, a budding chain of eateries that specializes in local fare. Bill Beeley, a Johnston resident, is the man behind the concept for “Jeat?”
Beeley now serves as the president of the chain, which got its start in the food court at Providence Place Mall. Beeley had run a Del’s Lemonade franchise for five years and had the idea to add to the local flavor of the popular beverage stand.
“I had the idea to do all Rhode Island food,” said Beeley, and so he pitched the concept to the mall.
They ate it up. So Beeley set to creating the menu, making sure to include Rhode Island specialties and seeking out the best local products.
He started off with clam cakes, chowder and Del’s lemonade, and then expanded with hot wieners, fish and chips, clam bellies, lobster rolls, calzones and sausage and peppers.
“We tasted a whole bunch of different kinds of fish, chowders and clam cakes,” explained Beeley. “We make sure everything is the best and make sure it tastes perfect.”
Beeley trains his staff on the temperature at which to cook foods, to ensure it arrives at the table piping hot. He makes sure clam cakes, french fries, fish and doughboys are all fried in separate fryers to avoid flavor contamination.
To finish off his menu, Beeley added Yacht Club Soda, Cape Cod Chips and Willowtree chicken salad. All he needed was a name.
“If you’re going sell all Rhode Island food,” he pondered, “what would it be called?”
That’s when a friend suggested “Jeat?,” a Rhode Island colloquialism of “Did you eat?”
“Some people don’t get it,” he laughed. “More people get it here [in Cranston] than they do in Lincoln.”
With a menu locked in and a catchy name in place, Beeley opened his first location in Providence Place Mall in 2009. Soon after they opened, Twin River Casino approached Beeley and asked if they would be interested in opening a second location in the casino. Beeley jumped at the opportunity and opened the second “Jeat?” last April.
“It was a better fit,” said Beeley of the Twin River location.
With the success of the Twin River restaurant and the Providence Place store a thing of the past, Beeley set his sights on a new city.
With his roots in Cranston, Beeley hoped to be able to bring his restaurant there. The 160 Atwood Avenue spot, home to the newest “Jeat?,” had been calling his name for a while.
“I had been driving by the location for years,” said Beeley, who had tried unsuccessfully to buy the property in the past. But in January he saw the windows were boarded up and immediately called to see if he could buy it. This time, the deal went through, and he began to turn the empty storefront into an eatery. By July the restaurant was ready, and they had their official opening on July 15.
Signs throughout the restaurant read “Cawfee Milk” or “Rhoe Diland Chowda,” and menus remind patrons they’ll be dining on “Wicked Good R.I Food.”
Beeley’s most popular items are the clam cakes and chowder, but he also said that the doughboys and hot wieners have quite the following, too. In Cranston, he’s added Saugies to the menu and hopes to add steak and cheese grinders in the future.
Beeley said that, so far, customers have been steady, and they’re already seeing repeat diners.
“We have a lot of regulars,” said Beeley. “A lot of the same people for the chowder.”
Sandeep Parmar, the assistant manager for the Cranston store, who has been with “Jeat?” since its Providence days, said the atmosphere at the restaurant is great. Parmar, originally from India, has called Rhode Island home for two years and was about to move to New Jersey when Beeley told him he’d be opening a new location. Parmar stayed to work in the new store.
His personal favorite menu items are the hot wieners, which he said he wouldn’t have been able to get in New Jersey.
“You can get hot dogs,” he said, “,ut not like this with the meat sauce.”
Although he couldn’t give away any recipes, Parmar said “passion is the secret” to creating quality local fare. Beeley hopes that the new Cranston location will do well and that in the future he can open another “Jeat?” somewhere in Warwick.
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